The Confessions

"I told my last partner that I needed space to work on myself. The truth is I had already emotionally checked out six months before and just did not have the courage to say so. Space was a kindly worded exit."

"I told my ex that I did not blame them for how things ended. I did blame them. I blamed them for years. I only stopped when I finally admitted to myself how much of it was my fault too."

"I ended a three year relationship by text because I was too cowardly to do it in person. She had done nothing wrong. I was just bored and too afraid of her tears to face her. I have never forgiven myself for that."

"I stayed with someone for eight months after I stopped loving them because I did not want to be alone over Christmas. I told myself I was being kind. I was being selfish. She planned a future with me during those eight months that I knew would never happen."

"My girlfriend thinks our first date went perfectly. Actually I nearly cancelled it twice, spilled wine on myself in the bathroom and called her the wrong name in my head all evening. What she read as calm confidence was blind terror."

"I have been with my partner for six years and I have never once told them about my debt. They think we are financially equal. We are not. I am afraid that if they knew the real number they would leave."

"I told an ex I had moved on and was completely fine. I was not fine. I drove past her house three times that week. I am embarrassed by who I was then."

"I have never told my husband that the first year of our marriage I genuinely was not sure we had done the right thing. I kept waiting for the feeling to pass. It did pass. But those twelve months I carried alone were the loneliest of my life."

"I have to confess that many years ago I told my best friend I had always really cared for them and would do anything to help, yet when they really needed I just wasn't there for them. They did so much for me and truly loved me shown by their actions. I just didn't show up for them. I was so full of myself. I still wake in the night thinking how badly I let them down."

"I once drunkenly kissed someone at a work party. My partner never found out. It meant nothing but the nothing of it almost made it worse. I have been a better partner every day since. The guilt does not diminish."